Tuesday Morning Baseball Thoughts: Chris Carpenter, "Fausto Carmona", Gavin Floyd

It turns out that Cardinals' starter Chris Carpenter has a bulging disc in his neck, and the Cardinals are starting to make plans in case he won't be ready for the start of the season. I would probably downgrade Carpenter a round or two in drafts until we know a little bit more about his timetable to return, and Lance Lynn seems like a deeper league target until we get that information as well.

The pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona (now Roberto Hernandez) may be getting closer to returning to the United States after the false identity charges against him were dropped in the Dominican Republic. It doesn't sound like this will just immediately clear him to return to camp and start getting ready for the season, so I would not anticipate him being ownable in any league for at least the first few weeks of the season.

The Blue Jays are rumored to be looking for a starting pitcher, and while Gavin Floyd or Joe Blanton's value would not change a lot as a result of a trade, it could open up an opportunity for either Zach Stewart or Dylan Axelrod in Chicago or for Kyle Kendrick or a free agent signee in Philadelphia. All of them would be AL/NL only plays at best, but there could be some nice opportunity there if a trade does happen.

We also saw a bunch more prospects sent to minor league camp, most notably Anthony Rendon of the Nationals, Alex Torres of the Rays, and Grant Green and Michael Choice of the Athletics.

Brief Injury Updates:

• David Wright received a cortisone shot yesterday, and still doesn't have a timetable to start playing in games.
• The x-rays on the wrist of Giancarlo Stanton were negative, but he will probably not play for a couple more days still.